Jindal Power's project faces tough questions

Environment panel asks the company to prove that it did not violate its original clearance

The expansion of Jindal Power's Chhattisgarh coal-based power project seems to be back on track – but with some additional tough questions from an Environment Ministry panel. The company has been asked to prove that it did not violate its original clearance and also provide a cumulative environment impact and risk assessment report.

This comes almost three months after the Ministry stalled the project, cancelling the Terms of Reference (ToR) for an environment clearance. Jindal Power already has a 1000 MW project at the site, and had wanted to add a further 2400 MW.

The ToR was cancelled on the grounds that the company had illegally gone ahead with construction for the expansion without getting the necessary clearance, and that the company did not even have the land needed for the expansion anyway.

At the Expert Appraisal Committee meeting held on August 10, Jindal Power representatives asked that since the State government has already filed a civil case against the company for beginning construction without a clearance, that issue should be de-linked from the plea for restoration of ToRs.

The company also clarified that since it had not used all the land allocated for the main plant of the original project, it still had a balance of land left over which it proposes to use for the expansion – a reasonable case of land use optimization.

The panel refused to buy that argument, pointing out that any such changes required its permission. It also pointed out that this would not leave any space for the 33 per cent green belt that the company was supposed to develop according to the original clearance.

Finally, the panel decided to restore the original ToR, if the company could prove that it had not violated the terms of the original clearance and also show how it intends to accommodate the new plant as well as the green belt in its site layout.

Jindal Power must also produce documentary evidence that it has coal and water sources for the entire expanded project and a plan to use the fly ash, as well as provide a cumulative assessment report.